“You’re so full of it. God, would you listen for five seconds? I am not taking more of your money!”
“I don’t need five seconds to listen, I’ve been doing that already. What I’m hearing is no good reason not to. You’ll stay here—rent free, because why the hell not? I have empty rooms, use one. I have money to pay for this, so fuckinguse it.”
Jensen threads her hands through her hair, I swear she’s about to pull it out and I know she’s so close to caving.
“Unless you can give me a legitimate answer then I’m not giving this up.”
Jensen lets out a muffled scream. “I can’t believe I have a freaking crush on you, you’re insufferable!”
Holy shit.Did I hear that right? My smile grows and there’s no stopping it. “You have a what on me?”
Jensen seems to replay what she just said through her head. She holds up a finger. “Nope. No way. Forget I said anything. I’m serious.”
“You have acrushon me?” I take slow steps to her, but she matches with double the number of steps back.
“No, Beck, I don’t want to date you.”
I want to agree with her, but I’m too happy right now. Perfectly content basking in this confession. “I knew you secretly liked me, I’m too lovable not to.”
Jensen retreats all the way to the stairs. “This is done, we’re done talking.”
I laugh. “Oh, we’re far from done.”
Jensen clenches her jaw as she takes the first step up. “Follow me up these stairs, Beckham, and I’ll push you back down them.”
I should stop, I know I should, but this is too big. I can’t stop smiling. “I love it when you flirt with me.”
Steam practically comes out of Jensen’s ears. “Come on, Dottie!” she yells as she hurries up the stairs.
Dottie hops from the couch, pausing at my feet, torn whether to follow or stay. “You fighting this is only hurting her. Be an adult and come kiss and make up with me,” I holler after her.
“Fuck you,” Jensen yells from the top of the stairs. “Dottie, come,” she commands sharply again.
When I give Dottie a nod, she prances up the stairs after Jensen. I wait another ten seconds then hear her bedroom door slam.
Holy hell. Jensen James has a crush on me. I did not see that coming.
I chuckle at the thought like a damn schoolboy, but when my phone starts to buzz on the counter my joy dies at the name on my screen.
Torn between sending it to voicemail and ignoring it completely, I know I would hate myself even more to get a text following this that things have taken a turn.
“Hello,” I answer, clipped.
I hold my breath until my dad replies, “Hey, son, everything’s fine…I just wanted to check on you.”
I let my breath go. Part of me wants to rage at him, but I just can’t. “That could’ve been a text, you know?”
“One you’d answer?” he asks soberly.
“Unsure, I think I’m a little rusty on fighting with you. Was I the weird kid growing up? I hardly remember arguing with you.”
A nervous chuckle comes through the phone. “Can’t say you were normal, but wouldn’t say weird—just a damn good kid.”
“Yeah, well, what do we do now, huh?”
Silence hangs, and even through the phone it’s palpable. I feel like I’m on the verge of sweating and there’s this damn lump forming in my throat. How we left things between us sucks. I hate it, but I need him to at least try to see why I made this decision.
The crush revelation from Jensen felt so good. I know what I feel for her is dangerous, even more than I care to admit. If I think about it, I could see how fun and entertaining a future with her would be. The type of future that I know my dad wants for me, but then I also see the pain and burden I could potentially put on her…it makes me physically ill to think about.
